


Against the Night

by ExpressAndAdmirable



Series: The Heroes of Light [23]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types, Final Fantasy I
Genre: Blood and Injury, Dream Sequence, Dreams and Nightmares, F/F, Tiefling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-22 09:49:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13164417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExpressAndAdmirable/pseuds/ExpressAndAdmirable
Summary: Sol tries to comfort Lux through one of her nightmares.





	Against the Night

_Buzzing. Hissing. Humming. Maddening. Swarm of flies, swarm of locusts. Crickets. Cicadas. Chirping cacophony. Please let it stop. Gods, why won’t it stop?_

_It was too hot. Too humid, too hot. Was this what the Hells were like? Aviva clawed at the sleeves of her blouse, tore through them like paper. Still too hot. She dropped her belt to the ground, let her surcoat fall, threw her vest aside. Better. She retrieved a shawl from her pack and wrapped it around her chest (why was her pack there? where did it come from?), securing the ties behind her neck. Shawl and leather trousers. Mama would be so proud._

_“Watch out!”_

_Mama?_

_She sat bolt upright, blinking, momentarily blinded as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The tavern in Pravoka. Sweat and spiced smoke lingering in the air, Haluei'en sleeping on the bed beside her. Everything at rest. And still that damned buzzing, ringing in her ears._

_It was wrong. It wasn’t safe. Mama–_

_The sound of glass shattering, something heavy hitting the wooden floor, sharp pain blossoming in her belly. Poison. Blood. She looked down at the dagger. How did that get there?_

_But that Aviva wasn’t her. She stood in the far corner, watching the events unfold before her. Aviva looking up with rage in her eyes, letting a spell fly, the would-be assassin clutching his horned head, Haluei'en snapping awake at the sound._

_Watch out, she tried to say. He’s been Called. Both of you, watch out!_

_The assassin looked directly at her, eyes shining in the blackness. There was no light for them to reflect, but still they burned, staring into her, through her. Pain in her belly. She looked down, pressing a hand to the dagger wound. Blood and ichor seeped through her fingers. Buzzing._

_She tasted copper in her mouth. Breathless, she wiped the blood from her lip, dimly aware of the smallness of her hand. Words tumbled from her mouth, but she did not hear them; the Human boy in front of her jerked, his eyes losing focus, his lips going slack. He deserved it. He deserved everything._

_No. This was a dream. She knew this part. She reached out toward her younger self, trying in vain to catch the little Tiefling’s attention. Don’t hurt him, Aviva. Please. Mama said–_

_“All these things are gifts you have been given. When the time comes, Aviva, you too will serve, and you will taste the joy of conquest – not by blade and fire, but by fear and awe. When they call you Queen, they will do so with love and madness in their mortal hearts.”_

_Blood in her mouth. Blood on her hands. Blood in her ears, unable to block the incessant buzzing. Too hot._

_A statue, kneeling, weeping. It had her face. No, it had her mother’s face. No. Faceless._

_Dark tears rolled down its cheeks, splashing on the ground at Aviva’s feet. The viscous black ooze reached for her as she turned to run, catching her boots in its grip. She tripped._

_“We thought you knew.”_

_“You see why we cannot be allowed to live.”_

_She clawed at the stone, scraping her fingertips until they tore, feeling herself start to slip as the rock became slick with her blood. The burning, acrid wind whipped around her, working itself into a tornado. And still, the buzzing._

_“You are a child of the corruption of this earth.”_

_A hand caught her wrist just as she lost her grip. Red skin. Gold bracelets. Relief flooded through her. Mama, is that–_

_Jaxa. Grinning, predatory, her eyes glittering with mad determination. One hand like a vice around her wrist, the other gently caressing her cheek, cupping her chin. With a painful yank, Jaxa pulled her by the arm from the precipice. Her smile never wavered._

_“There isn’t anyone in this world to love you, but me. You have nowhere, no-one.”_

_Again Aviva was outside herself. Leave, she begged the hostage in Jaxa’s arms. Just leave, in the night if you have to. Don’t stay. You have to leave. It’s not safe._

_Jaxa looked over Aviva’s shoulder at the Aviva watching, and she winked. She threaded her free hand into her Aviva’s hair, enticing, seductive, then balled it into a fist and wrenched the taller Tiefling to her knees. She released her lover’s wrist only to jam her hand into the dagger wound on her belly. Aviva spat a mouthful of blood and gasped for breath, blinking in shock. Jaxa smiled and, with another look at the Aviva beyond, kissed her._

_“Come any time you like, kitten.”_

_Blood on her lips, her fingers, seeping from the gash below her ribs. Blood in her lungs. The buzzing grew louder._

Movement against her leg roused Sol from her reverie. Usually she could meditate through the Tiefling shifting in her sleep, even when she rose and left for an early morning smoke, but something was different. Aviva was twitching, muttering, her eyes rolling beneath their lids as her head rested on Sol’s thigh. Her brow was furrowed. She was in pain.

Sol could only imagine the vividness of an artist’s nightmares.

Gently, slowly, she stroked Aviva’s hair, wishing her strength as she fought whatever battle was raging inside her mind. She bent close to the Tiefling’s ear, murmuring words of soft comfort in Elvish and in Common. She had no idea if it would help, but she had to try.

An odd, wet shuffling sound drifted across the deck, and a moment later Bikke Blackhand glided into view on his watery lower appendages. Sol had become accustomed to seeing the marid roaming the decks at night, just as he had gotten used to she and Aviva sleeping topside in their makeshift tent rather than down below. He paused, noting the seizing stiffness in her partner’s body with a raised eyebrow. “What’s her damage?”

Sol glared at him. She was in no mood for his flippant attitude. He held her gaze for a beat longer, then shrugged and continued on his way.

Aviva whimpered in her sleep, and Sol’s heart ached. At a loss for what else to do, she took the Tiefling’s left hand in hers, willing the crystals in their palms to do something, anything. Given all they had experienced, she no longer trusted that dreams were merely creations of the sleeping consciousness. She prayed.

_She covered her ears, rocking on her knees as if in supplication, trying in vain to drown out the buzzing. She opened her mouth to scream, but blood oozed from it instead, thick and black._

_This was what the Hells sounded like. This was what the Calling sounded like. The crashing of a prison door, the shrieking of a call to worship. A headsman’s axe hitting a bloodstained block. A clang of a cathedral bell. It was madness. It was purpose._

_“He… did something awful, one day. He never told any of us that he’d having thoughts or feelings, or that he’d been… struggling (that he’d seen the marks).”_

_The six-spoked sigil filled her vision, glowing beneath Castlefall. It was watching, waiting, whispering. It wanted her._

_No._

_The crystal in her palm began to glow. A feeling of calm washed over her as she stared at it, driving away the oppressive heat. The buzzing faded, stopped. She coughed up another glob of blood, but it was no longer the sickly dark colour it had been. Her wounds began to heal._

_A figure knelt before her, taking her face in their hands. She looked up into her mother’s eyes, her lips drawn into a familiar sad smile. Esperance kissed Aviva’s forehead. Then she was gone._

Aviva drew in a shuddering breath, the tension in her body easing as she exhaled. Sol looked at their clasped hands. Maybe something actually worked.

She held her close.

**Author's Note:**

> Title song by Jason Webley.
> 
> Follow me on Tumblr at @expressandadmirable for a proper table of contents for the Heroes campaign, commissioned character art, text-based roleplay snippets and more!


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